Multiprocessor computer systems include a number of processing nodes connected together by an interconnection network. Typically, each processing node includes one or more processors, a local memory, and an interface circuit connecting the node to the interconnection network. The interconnection network is used for transmitting packets of information between processing nodes.
Distributed, shared-memory multiprocessor systems include a number of processing nodes that share a distributed memory element. By increasing the number of processing nodes, or the number of processors within each node, such systems can often be scaled to handle increased demand. In such a system, each processor is able to access local memory, or memory of other (remote) processing nodes. Typically, a virtual address is used for all memory accesses within a distributed, shared-memory multiprocessor system, and is translated into a physical address in the requesting node's translation look-aside buffer (TLB). Thus, the requesting node's TLB will need to contain address translation information for all the memory that the node is able to access (local or remote). This amount of address translation information can be substantial, and can result in much duplication of translation information throughout the multiprocessor system (e.g., if the same page of memory is accessed by 64 different nodes, the TLB used by each node will need to contain an entry for that page). This type of system does not scale efficiently to very large numbers of processors.
Therefore, there is a need for an address translation mechanism in a multiprocessor system that addresses these and other shortcomings.